Ask a Raging Feminist: Why I #StandWithPP

Avital Norman Nathman is a freelance writer whose work places a feminist lens on a variety of topics, including motherhood, maternal health, gender, and reproductive rights. Her work has been featured in Bitch magazine, Cosmopolitan.com,...

'I stand with Planned Parenthood because...' — 14 powerful stories

There's no shortage of people who are eager to defund and discredit Planned Parenthood, the reproductive health organization that provides necessary, affordable and accessible care for almost 3 million patients across the country. In a time when even those in the government want to take away funding from this crucial organization, we wanted to hear from those who are loudly shouting their support for Planned Parenthood.

Why do you #StandWithPP?

"When I was in college, the most inexpensive way to get birth control and condoms was through Planned Parenthood, which was located near campus. The people at Planned Parenthood treated me and my friends with more respect than my former gynecologist at home. A good friend of mine had an abnormal Pap at Planned Parenthood when we were in our early 20s. She was able to get affordable treatment for the precancerous cells on her cervix. This is about affordable health care for women, and attempting to take that away is oppressing women." — Maria Mora

"I stand with them because the alternative is disease, death and despair." — Margaret Corvid

"Recently I read the tweet of a man stating that a woman's womb wasn't actually a part of her body, but a separate vessel inside her body. If that's the case, I'm sure he wouldn't mind if I put my foot in his mouth straight through his digestive tract and completely out his rear end. As long as we have people like that guy running around flapping his mouth parts, I'm going to be right behind him, offering to put my foot where the sun don't shine. Planned Parenthood is there too with correct information, advocating for women's health and health care and providing the services that help women live longer, healthier lives. That's why I #StandWithPP." — Jennifer Cumby

"I stand with #StandWithPP because Planned Parenthood saves lives and helps women escape poverty. No matter what choice you would make for yourself and your own body, it cannot be denied that this organization SAVES LIVES. Standing with Planned Parenthood is a question of whether or not you value the lives of women. Period." — Emily Comeau

"I #StandWithPP because they have saved my life and the lives of countless women I know. They provide essential health care, and we would be lost without them." — Seraphina Ferraro

"I #StandWithPP because they offered me support and guidance when I was 17 and pregnant. For the first time, they helped me understand and feel agency and autonomy over my own body." — Natasha Vianna

"I #StandWithPP 200%, because reproductive health care is a must. To take it away is a form of barbarism. It's an hypocrisy that says 'no, we don't want you to have abortions, but we're also going to take away your access to health care and methods to keep yourself from getting pregnant.' It is only an attempt to control women and to pander to a nameless, shapeless fear that uses God as a reason to hurt others. This, of all the things, does truly leave me raging." — Leigh Shulman

"When an early test came up wonky and I had to drive to another town for amniocentesis to determine whether there were significant fetal abnormalities, when I had to brace myself on the table while the nice doctor in the Hawaiian shirt explained what was happening, while I waited for him to count digits and vertebrae and chambers of the heart, I knew that if there was a problem, we would end this long-hoped-for would-be life before it even began. There was never any question.

The amnio was fine, my daughter is 5 and perfect, I have been a mother now for a nice, long while. But the hugeness of that, the sacrifice of our bodies and our spirits, the intensely personal decision as to when or if or how we choose to mother is seared into me. Risky pregnancy, fetal abnormality, bad timing — there are as many reasons to choose an abortion as there are women on the Earth. An abortion is nobody’s business but that woman’s at that time. For so many women Planned Parenthood is the critical factor in safeguarding that choice." — Jenny Poore

"Access to safe and legal abortions is the right of all women in the United States. I believe it is also a moral right — a woman’s body is hers to control, whether or not she is pregnant. I believe that it is not up to politicians to restrict women’s access to necessary health care that they are constitutionally entitled to. I believe this is an imperative issue that protects women’s equality and autonomy, especially for the most disenfranchised women. Planned Parenthood is an incredibly important organization in this country and a lifesaving resource for many people." — Lucien Baskin, 17

"I #StandWithPP because people with vaginas deserve quality health care. The 3% of funding PP spends providing healthy abortions THAT HAPPEN WHETHER IT IS LEGAL OR NOT is absolutely necessary. It is not my decision if any person with a womb wants to be an incubator for a fetus that cannot live on its own, and it certainly isn't yours either. TL:DR? Mind your beeswax!" — Alex Blank Millard

"I #StandWithPP because I need other women to have the same options I did when I discovered I was pregnant (while using oral contraceptives) and knew that I didn't want a pregnancy to interrupt my graduate studies. All women of all ages, relationship statuses and sexualities need access to the health care provided by Planned Parenthood, whether that's abortion care, STI care, breast cancer screening or birth control. Women need Planned Parenthood: for our health, for our survival, for our freedom." — Lyndsay Kirkham

"I #StandWithPP because I believe in women, pure and simple. I believe that women (and men and nonbinary people with vaginas) are capable of assessing their reproductive situation and doing what's best for themselves and their families — and Planned Parenthood helps people by believing the same and providing support and resources for them." — Ijeoma Oluo

"I #StandWithPP because I remember when I was kicked out of Tufts and I was very lost as a survivor. This was before Obamacare, and I couldn't get a job to save my life. Planned Parenthood was the only place I was able to go for any sort of medical care. I am so happy and thankful that I knew there was a place I could go that wouldn't judge me and was supportive of me during one of the most difficult times in my life. I was able to get long-term birth control and other services for free. I am so grateful that I knew there was one organization out there that would actually help me after having an institution that was supposed to help and nurture me betray me and throw me away. That comfort is invaluable." — Wagatwe Wanjuki

"I #StandWithPP because for years, they provided me with the health care I needed to stay healthy and prevent unplanned pregnancies. They're the best." — Lynn Johnson